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By Taylor Romine, Josh Campbell, Taylor Galgano, Danya Gainor, CNN
(CNN) — Investigators are still searching for a man they say shot and killed four people at a Montana bar Friday morning, closing parts of the nearby forest over the weekend as they work to locate the “armed and extremely dangerous” suspect, officials said.
As part of the search for suspect Michael Paul Brown, authorities shut down the area surrounding Barker Lakes, west of Anaconda, where the shooting took place, a Montana Department of Justice spokesperson said Saturday night.
Earlier in the day, the spokesperson said multiple local, state and federal agencies were searching for Brown on the ground and in the air around Stumptown Road, which sits north of the lake.
Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Police Chief Bill Sather on Saturday asked for the public’s help and thanked the community for its patience during this stressful time.
“We are doing everything we can to find and bring this perpetrator to justice,” he said in a video posted on Facebook. “It’s OK to go about your business in town but please use caution.”
The Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Law Enforcement Center advised the public in a Facebook post to stay out of the area and not to approach Brown. Sather on Saturday asked anyone who sees anything suspicious to alert 911.
On Friday, a white Ford F-150 that Brown drove was found, but Brown “was not located in or around the vehicle,” Montana Division of Criminal Investigation Administrator Lee Johnson said at a news conference.
Anaconda resident Randy Clark, who lives near Highway 1 and Stumptown Road — where the search for Brown is ongoing — filmed a helicopter flying near his home on Saturday morning on the west side of town.
Clark, a retired police officer, told CNN a helicopter search happened until after about 11 p.m. on Friday and resumed at about 6 a.m. local time.
He said he could hear authorities shouting on Friday, but he couldn’t tell if they were yelling at the suspect or communicating with each other.
“I heard a bunch of sirens and stuff and saw the state troopers and local police flying down Highway 1, west toward Philipsburg,” he said. “(They) stopped directly across from where I live. You could see the blue lights and stuff, everything.”
What happened
The shooting took place at 10:30 a.m. local time at The Owl Bar, and the scene is secure, the Montana DCI said, without providing additional details about what led up to the shooting.
Investigators have identified all four victims of the shooting but aren’t releasing their names until their families have been notified, Johnson said.
Friday’s violence is among at least 256 mass shootings in the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
Cassandra Dutra, a bartender at the Owl Bar for six months, told CNN she feels extremely overwhelmed and sad about the shooting on Friday.
“It just isn’t real. It’s totally overwhelming,” she said. She believes every person in the bar at the time of the shooting was killed, which included a bartender who was the only staff member working, and three customers.
She said Brown lived next door to the bar and would come in frequently, but noted “he wasn’t a part of the camaraderie” existing with the others.
Dutra was not working on Friday but she lives near the bar and heard noise during the shooting. At first, she assumed it was coming from construction happening outside the bar. When she heard there was a shooting at the Owl, she did not think it was a dangerous situation where people were hurt.
“I didn’t immediately panic because I just know the atmosphere in the Owl … it never occurred to me that anybody was hurt,” she said.
David Gwerder, the owner of The Owl Bar, told The Associated Press he was unaware of any conflicts between Brown and anyone who was in the bar Friday morning.
“He knew everybody that was in that bar. I guarantee you that,” Gwerder told the AP. “He didn’t have any running dispute with any of them. I just think he snapped.”
CNN has reached out to Gwerder for comment.
Five families were ‘destroyed’
Clare Boyle, Brown’s niece, described her uncle as a veteran who struggled with his mental health in the Army and wasn’t the same after his service.
Brown served as an armor crewman in the US Army from January 2001 to May 2005 and was deployed to Iraq from February 2004 to March 2005, Lt. Col. Ruth Castro, a spokesperson with the US Army, told CNN in an email Saturday.
Brown was then in the Montana National Guard from April 2006 to March 2009, she added. He left military service with the rank of sergeant.
Brown’s mental health got progressively worse with the passing of both of his parents, Boyle told CNN.
She emphasized Brown is a “very sick” person — but that she did have happy memories with her uncle, like when he taught her how to ride a bike and fish.
Boyle said she personally feels remorse and heartbreak for all of the families, noting that five families were “destroyed” on Friday.
When asked about Brown’s mental health history, Castro said the Army was unable to release medical information “due to policy and Privacy Act constraints.”
Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte said on X he is “praying for the victims, their loved ones, and the brave law enforcement officers” who responded to the scene.
Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke encouraged people in the area to “stay inside and lock their doors.”
The FBI, the Denver office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Granite County Sheriff’s Office said they are assisting with the investigation.
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Sarah Dewberry, David Williams, Michelle Watson and Jessica Flynn contributed to this report.
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